Ninja Stars

Chapter 7

As the sun set that evening, the ship left the dock. Mayumi was seated on his bed, sharpening his sword. Ling was asleep in the bed across the room. Mayumi couldn’t quite understand how a pirate ship could be so roomy, but that wasn’t what he was concerned about at the moment. He put down his sword and walked over to the dresser, on top of which sat the map that Sensei had given him. He picked it up and went into the study that was connected with his and Ling’s bedroom, being careful not to wake Ling as he passed. As he settled himself down into a desk chair, a storm raged outside. Rain lashed the windows; lightning struck the sky. But Mayumi took no notice. He just began to study the map.

“If we set off from here, and we dock…..um….. where exactly do we dock?” Mayumi mumbled. He decided that in order to plan where to go after reaching land, he would have to ask the captain where the ship would dock. So he folded up his map, put it in his back pocket, and headed back through the bedroom and up the ladder to the top deck, pausing only when Ling gave a particularly loud snort. When he got to the deck, he was instantly soaked.

“What—on— earth?!” He shouted over the pouring rain. He made his way over to the steering wheel, but to his astonishment, the captain wasn’t there. As the ship rocked to one side, he slipped. Mayumi went sliding across the deck, smashing into the railing and almost falling down into the waters below.

The wind was very intense. It seemed to Mayumi that every time a wave crashed against the ship, the wind picked up speed. It was almost as if the wind was getting its strength from the ocean. Suddenly, the map flew out of Mayumi’s pocket.

“My map!” he shouted at the wind. Mayumi watched with dismay as the map fluttered to rest on the ocean’s surface before being eaten by the cruel waves.

Then, without warning, the ship jerked, tilting in the opposite direction. Mayumi slipped and slid with great speed to the other side of the ship, where this time he ducked out of the way of the rails, but rather slid under them. He slammed his fingernails into the deck as hard as he could, clawing and scratching to remain aboard as his legs hung off the ship, flailing in the wind. As he frantically looked around for something to grab on to, he spotted the Captain. He was lying unconscious in one of the lifeboats. Suddenly, the ship gave a particularly nasty jolt, and Mayumi slid not only closer to the edge of the ship, but also closer to the deadly black ocean, swirling and tumbling below.

Just then, a barrel rolled off the ship and tumbled down into the sea. The second it touched the murky water, a huge, menacing wave washed over it. Mayumi cringed as he heard a nasty crunch and saw tiny splinters of wood float to the surface. He gulped. He couldn’t let that happen to him! Yet there he was, inching ever closer to the edge of the ship, with no one to save him, except a passed out Captain who looked like he would never again awaken.

As the ship tilted farther still, he shouted into the darkness, “HELP! IF ANYONE IS OUT THERE, ANYONE AT ALL, SAVE US!”

Mayumi knew that shouting was no good, that there was no one within miles who would hear his cries for help, and that all he was doing was wasting what little breath he had left. But still, something inside him was hopeful.

Just then, a voice spoke from somewhere in the sky. It boomed:

“I HAVE HEARD YOUR CRIES.

I HAVE HEARD YOUR PLEAS.

I HAVE HEARD YOUR DISTRESS AND YOUR AGONY.

“YOU HAVE HEARD MY ADVICE,

AND YOU HAVE PUT IT TO USE.

YOU MUST DO WHAT I ASK,

FOR THERE IS NO EXCUSE.

“IF YOU DO WHAT I ASK,

JUST ONE SIM

PLE TASK,

THE SHIP SHALL BE SAVED,

FROM THE WRATH OF THE WAVES.

“LET GO.

LET GO.

LET GO.”

“Let go?!” Mayumi gasped, for it was now becoming quite difficult indeed to hold a firm grip. “Let go?! …….I will die if I let go! …… I will lose everything I have strived for! …..

“I will lose my only friend,” he said quietly.

“LET GO.

LET GO.

LET GO.”

As Mayumi stared down at the water below that was drawing ever nearer, he realized what he had to

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do. He took a deep breath, which may very well have been his last.

“FOR LING!!!” Mayumi shouted.

Then, without another thought, he let go.

As he plummeted downward, the whole world slowed down around him, like time itself had stopped, and the roaring of the sea was quieted, almost to a silence that he had never known. It appeared to Mayumi as though everything around him was now moving in slow motion. He could see each drop of water that was tossed up by the waves; He could see each hair on the Captain’s head blowing in the wind. But most of all, he could see his life slipping away, as he drew nearer and nearer to those chilling waves.

“I am not going to die,” Mayumi thought over and over as the waves drew nearer still. “I am not going to die! I am not going to die!”

Louder and louder this thought grew as he fell, “I am not going to die! I am not going to die!”

He was practically shouting in his own head, “I am NOT going to die! I am NOT going to die!”

His mind was screaming in his ears now, “ I am NOT GOING TO DIE! I am NOT GOING TO DIE!”

All at once, the thought exploded from his mind and filled the air around him, as though protecting him from the storm.

“I AM NOT GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!” He screamed as he hit the water.